Food and Fertilizer Technology Center - publications

Seminars and Workshops

Improved Duck Production of Small Scale Farmers in Aspac

September 17-21, Vietnam

Co-sponsors: National Institute of Animal Husbandry, Vietnam; Livestock Research Institute (LRI), COA, Taiwan ROC

Duck production is one of the most important and promising activities for rural development in many Asian countries. Ducks easily adapt to various adverse environments, and are well resistant to a variety of animal diseases. They can grow well with locally available feeds and less manpower is needed to raise them even under meagerly equipped facility, so that even women and aged people are able to easily manage the production. This seminar seeks to promote efficient production of ducks for Asian small-scale farmers through genetic improvement and improved cultural practices.

Management of Agrochemical Residues in Food

October 01-05, Taiwan ROC

Co-sponsor: Asian Productivity Organization (APO), Japan

International trade in agricultural products has expanded rapidly, fueled by the growing consumer demand and technological developments in marketing and processing. This trend is posing major challenges, one of which is the proliferation and strengthening of food safety standards and technical regulations, especially in developed countries. Due to poor capacity and experience, many developing Asian countries are struggling to comply with the emerging requirements and the high costs of compliance.

Recently some Asian countries have tightened the standards of agrochemical residues in foods, to cope with their national concern on food safety. Farmers are asked to come up with produce with minimal agrochemical residues, while collectors, distributors and traders are under pressure to minimize post-harvest contamination of agrochemicals. This seminar aims to serve as a venue to harmonize regulations and standards on agrochemical residues in food; and share and exchange rapid, accurate and cost-effective detection techniques as well as GAP system especially in the context of small- and medium-scale Asian farmers.

Enhancement of Women Farmers' Role in the Development of Rural Asia

Oct 15-19, Korea

Co-sponsor: Rural Development Administration (RDA), Korea

Rural development in Asia is to considerably depend on the capacity enhancement of women farmers in view of the rapid feminization of agriculture in the last three decades. Nowadays, women farmers not only play a major role in agriculture, but also provide a vital contribution to the stability and development of rural communities. In spite of their great contribution to the increase in household income and community development, lack of resources deprives them of opportunities for their own capacity building and improved quality of life. In addition, gender gap seriously restricts women's access to legal, institutional and policy support services. This seminar aims to serve as a venue for the sharing and exchange of practical technologies and extension schemes to augment the current situation of women farmers and improve their potential contributions to rural development.

Development of Soil-Crop Inventory on Heavy Metals and Organic Pollutants in the Asian and Pacific Region

Oct. 22-25, Japan

Co-sponsors: National Institute for Agro-Environmental Sciences (NIAES), National Agricultural Research Center (NARC), Japan International Research Center for Agricultural Science (JIRCAS), Japanese Society of Soil Science and Plant Nutrition

Along with industrial expansion, arable lands have been gradually degraded or contaminated with heavy metals and organic pollutants in most Asian countries. In the two decades, this trend became obvious, and significantly aggravated the quality of soil and crop because of the increased concentration of pollutants in them. This will, in turn, bring about a great risk to human health and deteriorate environmental quality in this region. This symposium will be held as a special session of the 8th ESAFS conference, aimed at developing a database of heavy metal contamination in both soils and crops, and a methodology to evaluate the bioavailability and minimize the amount of heavy metals accumulated in edible parts of crops in the Asian region.

Appropriate Use of Bio-Fertilizers and Bio-Pesticides for Small-Scale Farmers in the Asian and Pacific Region

November 19-23, Philippines

Co-sponsor: Philippine Council for Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resources Research and Development (PCARRD)

Bio-fertilizers offer a safe option in terms of utilizing renewable inputs to improve the fertility of the land using biological wastes with beneficial micro-organisms which impart organic nutrients to the farm produce. Bio-pesticides, on the other hand, generally affect only the target pests and are safer to use than conventional pesticides. When used as a component of integrated pest management (IPM) programs, bio-pesticides can greatly decrease the use of conventional pesticides, while crop yields remain high. There is now a growing concern among consumers toward food safety and environmentally sound practices, giving more and more importance on the use of bio- fertilizers and bio-pesticides (bio-agents) as an alternative to farm chemicals. This worksop seeks to provide a venue for the sharing and exchange of knowledge and expertise on bioagents, toward reducing dependence of small-scale farmers on conventional chemical inputs while maintaining yield and improving the quality and safety of produce under a sustainable production system.

Development and Adoption of Traceability System for Fish and Fish Products in Asia

November 26-30, Indonesia

Co-sponsor: Research Center for Aquaculture, Indonesia

Over the last three decades, technological advances in capture fisheries and aquaculture, globalization trends, and market and consumer demands have resulted in the continued growth in the production and trading of fish and fish products. Along with these trends, traceability has become a major concern of the fishery industries, especially as it became a legitimate requirement in international fish trade and, more recently, in the growth of fish retailing in food supermarket chains. Furthermore, as fisheries and aquaculture production becomes more market and consumer driven, the greatest pressure on traceability has been coming from the general public. People are getting more and more concerned on what they eat - whether the food comes from a sustainable source and produced through eco-friendly methods, and whether production, transportation, and storage conditions can guarantee food safety. This workshop aims to promote the adoption of suitable fish and fish products traceability system in Asia and harmonize standards and guidelines among trading countries.

Special Projects

Modern Corn Cultivation Technology Transfer in Caraga Region, Philippines (Y2)

January - December 2007, Philippines

Co-sponspors: Department of Agriculture (DA) - Caraga Region, Philippines; Northern Mindanao State Institute of Science and Technology (NORMISIST), Philippines; Manila Economic and Cultural Office (MECO); Rural Development Foundation (RDF), Taiwan ROC

Corn is the main source of livestock forage in the Philippines, and corn production is an important source of livelihood for many small-scale farmers in the country. About 60% of the Philippines' annual corn production is from Mindanao, and among this island's six main maize production areas, the Caraga Region has the least average yield production. The average yield of corn in Caraga is only 1.5MT/hectare. This low yield is attributed to the farmers' poor cultivation practices and lack of modern technology, as well as the use of inbred varieties. Therefore, there is an urgent need to extend modern cultivation techniques and introduce hybrid corn in order to raise the average yield and the farmers' interest to grow corn under this agricultural technical assistance program.

Establishment of Pathogen-Free Citrus Germplasm Repository for the Improvement of the Citrus Industry in Aspac (Y2)

January - December 2007

Co-sponspors: Rural Development Foundation (RDF), Taiwan ROC; National Taiwan University (NTU)

Citrus systemic diseases of greening (HLB), and viruses such as citrus tristeza closterovirus (CTV), citrus tatter leaf cappilovirus (CTLV) and citrus exocortis viroid (CEVd), have been causing considerable damage to fruit yield and quality, and have become serious constraint for the citrus industry in the Asian and Pacific region in recent decades. These systemic serious diseases are effectively controlled by integrated measures of disease management such as: 1) establishment of virus-free citrus cultivar repository, which is primarily important in preventing prevalence of the diseases; 2) precise and rapid disease indexing techniques indispensable for management of pathogen-free (PF) nursery system through health certificate of PF seedlings; 3) establishment of shoot-tip micrografting technique for obtaining PF germplasm foundation; and 4) performance of health management for preventing reinfection of PF trees in the field through IPM of vector insects.

The above-mentioned integrated techniques have been well-developed and performed for the improvement and development of citrus industry in Taiwan. Also, Southeast Asian countries look forward to Taiwan's technological support to prevent growers losses due to the citrus greening and virus diseases.

A Rapid, Less-Costly and Accurate Detection of Citrus Greening (HLB) Pathogen in the Asian and Pacific Region (Y1)

April 2007-March 2008

Co-sponsors: National Institute of Fruit Tree Science (NIFTS), Japan; National Agricultural Research Center for Kyushu Okinawa Region (KONARC), Japan

In recent decades, citrus greening disease (Huanglongbing, HLB) has been devastating citrus orchards in the Asian and Pacific region, and giving destructive damage to the citrus industry in these areas. However, HLB disease is very difficult to identify because of its similarity to symptoms of such nutrient deficiencies as Zn and Fe; also, its pathogen, Diaphorina citri, cannot be cultivated on an artificial culture medium. In addition, there are no available effective agrochemicals to control this disease. In this regard, the earlier identification of the infection is made, the less damage is brought about. This special project aims to develop a rapid, less-costly and accurate detection technology of citrus greening pathogen (HLB) on would-be HLB infected citrus trees, in order to minimize HLB damages in major citrus production areas in the Asia and Pacific region.

Index of Images

Figure 1 2007 Work Program

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